| Summary: | This essay examines three instances in which polyrhythm serves as a metaphor for thinking through relations of difference. In the thought of Mário de Andrade, polyrhythm serves as a mechanism for situating musical creation within a logic of production and accumulation. In the work of the Cuban writer Antonio Benítez Rojo, polyrhythm becomes a model for thinking about the Caribbean and its geography in relation to the performing arts. Finally, in early twentieth-century New Orleans, the musical feel associated with polyrhythm would contribute to a highly sexualized rhythmic feel that relates musical intensity to the smell of dancers’ bodies.
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